The Declaration of Independence guarantees Americans the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” but this election season at UF, a new student party is adding the pursuit of tacos to that list.
Taco Libre Party, a party created last week, has joined in the student election race with one goal in mind: bringing Taco Bell back to UF’s campus.
The two co-founders and co-party presidents, Stephanie Kreitzer and Micaela Montero Dokser, used to be members of the Students Party. They said they decided to splinter off from the party to focus on a single initiative.
“We want to bring a brand-new perspective to student government — something that has never been done before,” Kreitzer, a 21-year-old UF accounting junior, wrote in an email. “We believe that by having a more established mission, we will be able to get more accomplished than if we were to have a long, vague laundry list of goals.”
Montero Dokser, a 21-year-old UF finance junior, agreed and said the party’s single initiative platform should encourage students to get involved with Student Government and show them it can be exciting.
“I believe that we bring a new, fresh perspective to this election season — and tacos,” she said. “The Taco Libre Party was created to increase student interest in Student Government, not just to claim votes.”
Students Party Spokesperson Alex Klayman said because Students Party and Taco Libre Party are both minority parties, he had reached out to them to discuss their future plans but hasn’t received responses.
“They’re totally separate from us,” he said. “We’re both minority parties in a very majority party system.”
Students Party had a total of 14 candidates slate with them.
Swamp Party spokesperson Susan Webster spoke on behalf of the party and said, “We think all competition is healthy competition, and we are excited to continue to show the Student Body that the Swamp Party works for the best interest of all students.”
Swamp Party had about 540 candidates qualify and slate.
During the three-day slating process, 56 people qualified and slated with the Taco Libre Party.
Despite the slating turn out, some students are not pleased with the fiesta-minded theme Taco Libre Party has in mind for the election.
Sen. Michael Christ, minority party leader, said he thinks the third party is “pathetic” and “insulting.”
“It’s offensive to both parties… the student body and the process as a whole,” the 20-year-old junior said. “It appears to be them having jokes at the expense of the Student Body. I’m confident students will express their discontent with jokes like this at the ballot box.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 1/30/2014 under the headline "New SG party runs with nacho average platform: Bring tacos back"]
